A Sample Social Media Toolkit
There are countless ways to get into the game with Social Media, but sometimes, we get hung up on evaluating tools and thinking about which are the best for the job. We go further into thinking about the variety of tools and why we’d use which ones for what, and then, next thing you know, the day’s over and nothing’s been done. Here are a few sample tools and what they can be used for, and from there, maybe some new ideas will spread.
Quick note: I know and use and admire and communicate with LOTS of providers of these tools. For every one of these categories, I could probably name between four and sixteen more people. If I didn’t list you, I probably still love you. Maybe that will be a post for another time, a big fat list of resources.
The Quick List
For the sake of summary, let’s list out what’s in our toolkit, and why, and then we’ll go into detail AFTER that:
- Listening Tool - Google Reader
- Search Tools - Technorati and Google Blogsearch
- Home Base Blog - Wordpress.com or Wordpress.org to host your own).
- Scratch Blog - Tumblr
- Better Reach - FeedBurner
- Mobile Blogging - Utterz ( Qik for streaming video from your phone).
- Social Conversation - Twitter
- Social Profile - Facebook
- Business Profile - LinkedIN
- Social Bookmarking - Del.icio.us
- Collaboration - PBWiki
- Shared Documents - Google Docs
- Instant Messaging-Web Based - Meebo or Campfire
- Photo Sharing - Flickr or Zooomr
- Video Hosting - Blip.tv (also YouTube)
What They All Do
Google Reader and the two search tools make it easy for you to set up a quick network of searches on topics, brands, company names, and whatever else you want to follow in your space. (If you didn’t get my Five Starter Moves free PDF document, drop a note in the comments, and it describes HOW). The “Shared Items” feature and the email to others feature makes this a great way to share interesting articles with others, by the way.
When I say “home base” blog, I feel that in MOST cases, making your main website a blog is preferable to something static. Why? Because it hints at recurring content. It fills search engines with things to think about.
A “scratch” blog might be one that you don’t even publish to the outside world, but the beauty of Tumblr is that you can blurt short text, audio, video, and other things onto the site. I keep a few around for a few different purposes: one for private notes, and one for multimedia posts.
I use FeedBurner to improve the quality of my RSS feeds, to give people more options to subscribe to my posts, and for some extra functionality.
Utterz is a simple tool you can use from ANY mobile device (the barrier to entry is whether or not it has the #2), and post either audio, text, photos, or video. Qik does live video streaming, if your phone supports making movies.
Twitter allows for one-to-many messaging from multiple points (web, IM, 3rd party app, or mobile device). It’s also good for presence, and sharing quick status information.
Facebook actually does lots of things and is a full-featured social network, but at the baseline, fill out a personal profile with lots of information about you, and links back to your main site and/or your blog, and it will do a great job of helping people find you. Other features exist, including groups and several 3rd party applications. There’s lots to explore there.
LinkedIN is a popular site for posting a summary of your current job role and responsibilities, as well as a work history. There is now a group feature there as well, and you can use this tool extensively to reach out and meet new colleagues in your field, prospective employees, and there are all sorts of other uses for such information, if you give it some thought.
I like del.icio.us (pronounced “delicious”) for social bookmarking because it means my bookmarks are out on the web, so I can access them from anywhere. It also means that I can add tags and other metadata to the bookmarks to improve the ways I search for them.
We’ve used wikis for collaboration projects, such as planning an event (we built PodCamp on a wiki, and it’s still running strong!), or sharing status information that might need to be changed by more than one person. There are tons of free wiki software projects out there. I think PBWiki is simple, flexible, and easy enough to share with others. The only tricky thing about explaining wikis to colleagues who aren’t up to speed is the name itself. If you just say “collaborative web page” or some such, it’s easier.
Google Docs works as a great replacement for sharing word processing and spreadsheet functions. It’s free, secure, and makes for less file clutter, as you’re sharing a link to a shared, common document instead of sending around various versions. They also have a presentation software, though I haven’t had much experience with it just yet.
Instant messaging isn’t dead. There are still plenty of great business uses for quick one-to-one conversations. Meebo is a great tool because it lets you bridge several services at once (Desktop apps that do the same thing are Adium for the Mac and Trillian for PC) and chat with people about quick hit items.
Photo sharing and video hosting can be used in lots of ways. They make for richer interactions, add some dimension to the media you’re making with your company, and give you an opportunity to express your story in different ways than straight text.
How You Might Use These Tools
I won’t go into each and every tool, but here is a quick rundown of some tools and how you can use them for business purposes:
- Listening tools - understand how people react to your organization, follow your competitors’ news stories, learn more about things that might impact your business.
- Blogging - communicate your company’s news, discuss the industry as a whole, share information and learning, respond to things you find while listening, internally- as a status platform.
- Mobile Tools and Social Conversation- status and presence information, visuals from field engineers, audible daily meeting messages.
- Collaboration and Shared Documents- project plans, intention documents, status reports, meeting minutes, shared creative projects.
- Instant Messaging- meetings while virtual, backchannel during conference calls, quick integrated conversations.
Personal Use
Lots of these tools are often explained in their typical use as a way to communicate outwards to lots of people, and yet, as I explained above in my “scratch blogs” use, there are all these great tools to use for yourself as a creative type looking to capture information on the fly. Remember that tools have an obvious first use, but sometimes, they have a different use when applied to a different kind of problem. Don’t lose sight of that option.
What Would YOU Recommend?
These are all just part of one sample kit. You probably have different kit ideas and different use cases. For instance, what would a mobile journalist want to build? What would an audio producer add in there? How would you take advantage of even more web tools that aren’t exactly media but that you love for different reasons?
The Social Media 100 is a project by Chris Brogan dedicated to writing 100 useful blog posts in a row about the tools, techniques, and strategies behind using social media for your business, your organization, or your own personal interests. Swing by [chrisbrogan.com] for more posts in the series, and if you have topic ideas, feel free to share them, as this is a group project, and your opinion matters.
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Comments
This is fantastic. I have a tumblr blog, but never thought of a use for it prior. This hit home:
“…I keep a few around for a few different purposes: one for private notes, and one for multimedia posts.”
[…] [chrisbrogan.com] wrote an interesting post today on A Sample Social Media ToolkitHere’s a quick excerpt There are countless ways to get into the game with Social Media, but sometimes, we get hung up on evaluating tools and thinking about which are the best for the job. We go further into thinking about the variety of tools and why we’d use which ones for what, and then, next thing you know, the day’s over and nothing’s been done. Here are a few sample tools and what they can be used for, and from there, maybe some new ideas will spread. Quick note: I know and use and admire and communicate with […]
[…] [chrisbrogan.com] added an interesting post today on A Sample Social Media ToolkitHere’s a small reading […]
[…] chrisbrogan wrote an interesting post today on A Sample Social Media ToolkitHere’s a quick excerptFacebook actually does lots of things and is a full-featured social network, but at the baseline, fill out a personal profile with lots of information about you, and links back to your main site and/or your blog, and it will do a great … […]
[…] chrisbrogan wrote an interesting post today on A Sample Social Media ToolkitHere’s a quick excerptA “scratch” blog might be one that you don’t even publish to the outside world, but the beauty of Tumblr is that you can blurt short text, audio, video, and other things onto the site. I keep a few around for a few different purposes: … […]
Chris,
You clearly and simply lay out the tools & potential uses. I see this general style in most of your posts, and very much appreciate it.
Another thing I like, and very much agree with when you write: “we get hung up on evaluating tools and thinking about which are the best for the job…and then, next thing you know, the day’s over and nothing’s been done.” I’ve referred to this as “Analysis Paralysis” for years now. In the case you describe in your post, it’s analogous to trying to learn to swim by reading books, watching videos, doing everything BUT getting in the water. Wanna learn how to do it - jump in!
Yesterday I completely deleted my “personal” Google Reader & de.licio.us accounts & started from scratch - because I had learned a lot from “just diving in”.
Again, thanks for your post & your overall style of writing, it makes it so much easier to see what part of the pool I want to dive in to next!
Have a great day! - Troy.
Good list. Our security policy block Meebo - which I sorely miss since I use google, Yahoo, AOL and MS instant messengers. Here’s hoping I can get campfire in unde the radar.
Thanks, Chris!
Wait! Where’s Netvibes in all of this? I take Coriander (sorry, no Ginger invite yet) over Google Reader any day.
This is an insanely useful list, thank you. I use most of these, and I can add a recommendation for Backpack from 37 Signals for the scratch blog function. It’s my blog junk drawer–I keep a whole bunch of files, snippets, images, links, references, and other potentially useful stuff in there. If I work on a post over a period of several days or more, I throw the draft up in a text file so I can grab it from wherever. I also keep client info, addresses and invoices there, and a few GTD lists. Super handy and easier to sort through than Tumblr. (I do use Tumblr for my personal “kid update” blog.)
I would love to grab a copy of the Five Starter Moves doc!
My dad spent his youth building drag racers to compete with Big Daddy Don Garlits, then 40 years building transmissions for Boeing’s Chinook helicopters. On weekends, when I was growing up, he worked a side job at a local Sunoco doing state inspections.
He had a bangin’ toolbox filled with every tool you can imagine.
He was intimately familiar with the purpose and functionality of every tool in the box. He understood which required add-ons or adapters, and over the years showed me how turning a wrench could be done with the finesse of any artist.
But it was because he was a professional.
He’d come home to find me working on my bike and cringe when he saw what I was doing with his tools–how I was using pliers to turn a bolt which could have been much more efficiently torqued by a socket wrench or cutting a two by four with a hacksaw.
So now when I look at work and the available tools to accomplish it, I have an eye for the right tool for the job, but I’m also mindful that too many choices sometimes results in employing the wrong tool.
Your toolbox looks like a media professional’s toolbox. It may be everything a media pro needs to be adequately plugged into all the right places through online social networks, but it might look like a tall, scary red box of complicated gadgets to a client who just wants to turn the key and drive a fast car.
Awesome list, and a wonderfully lucid, concise and instructive blog. Thanks, Chris.
I would only add one tool: Fleck (http://fleck.com)
Fleck is a plugin for your Firefox or Internet Explorer browser that lest you add a note to any page on the web, and then shared that ‘flecked’ page and note with others.
It’s a great way to share pages, gather opinion, and see what other people think about literally anything that’s online.
I couldn’t live without Backpack either. And I listen to Eventful, Upcoming, Last.fm and Dopplr for specific user names.
Excellent list, Chris.
I’d add one more category - of profile sites specifically for getting found on Google & other search engines.
Some nice ones I’ve found:
Naymz - http://www.naymz.com/search/mani/sivasubramanian/1359286
Mevu -
http://www.mevu.com/drmani
There are many more. And don’t overlook profile pages on Zimbio, Squidoo or Gather to boost SE presence and branding.
All success
Dr.Mani
Chris,
This fantastic. Wouldn’t it be nice to have them all in one “social networker/marketer dashboard”? (the closest one is maybe http://www.netvibes.com/).
btw, does tumblr visible to search engines?
Thanks for listening.
Keren
@Don Lafferty (http://www.facebook.com/s.php?k=100000080&id=694492233)- what a beautiful comment. Kind of remindig me of my dad. I wish there was a tool for that too - i.e tool for “digging” blog comments:)
Keren
This is a great post and I can definitely see this as a utility in the corporate world with bosses who either don’t understand the tools or are hung up on researching all the tools available.
My two cents. I agree with Vivian that Netvibes deserves a mention. It’s really my home base for the web. It’s not just my reader, but my personalized view of everything that matters to me on the web. Plus I’m anxiously awaiting Ginger and I’m already starting to see some really cool value in the Universes available.
I’m also becoming obsessed with diigo http://www.diigo.com/ which is a social bookmarking with some pretty darn cool features. Not only can I tag and save my bookmarks online, but I can also highlight excerpts, add sticky notes directly to the page (public or private), and forward these notes on to anyone else. I see this as a huge time saver in the office environment. Why send a link when you can send a link with context, comments, and highlighted sections?
I’m a huge fan of Google Reader and Google docs. Google just keeps bringing out these awesome services and get more involved in our lives.
Ah, Chris, you’ve done it again.
Your posts are always so helpful, timely and easy to understand. You’ve raised the bar yet again. Thanks so much!
Would love your thoughts on flock.
Great list, thanks for putting it together. I agree that the power of these tools can be thinking of new and unintended ways to use them. For instance, I started using delicious to organize my online research efforts. But I figured out I could use RSS feeds to funnel my research to my blogs or internal company portal to share my research with others, particularly project teams, and it just became insanely more useful.
BTW, I love Google Docs Presentations. As nice as PowerPoint, but so much easier to share the presentation on the web and give it a second life beyond the point of presenting.
[…] A Sample Social Media Toolkit 【推荐一些经典的社会化媒体工具】There are countless ways to get into the game with Social Media, but sometimes, we get hung up on evaluating tools and thinking about which are the best for the job. We go further into thinking about the var (tags: 2008-01 socialmedia tools glossary) […]
I was just thinking about writing a post on the tools that I use. I probably still will, even though it’s pretty much everything on your list.
The only other thing that I use not on your list is CoComment.
[…] there and Chris Brogan was generous to share the most significant ones with us in his recent “A Sample Social Media Toolkit” […]
I persoanlly use Bloglines over Google Reader for my RSS feeds for one main reason: the mobile interface is so much better. I do a lot of my catching up whilst mobile - 2 hours a day on the train can be great for feed reading, marking for later and planning posts.
Despite this, you are right to put Google Reader on your list as it has become the de facto standard through popularity and word of mouth. Besides, community offerings and mashups are, and will be, based on Google Reader so it makes sense to use a tool that integrates with others.
Great list! A couple of thoughts:
1. Well, I guess I missed that PDF. Can you ship it off to me?
2. I use most of these tools also. One that I would add is Skype. It doesn’t fully fit in your list since it is a download app, but there really isn’t much that beats it for the ability to conference call, dial phones, text IM, and voice chat all in one.(and now I get all my tweets in there using the twitter4skype bot)
3. Someone mentioned cOcomment. I’m having trouble with it keeping me notified of new comments.
4. Re: Tumblr. I have one and can’t figure out how to fit it into my overall online presence. Right now I have feeds going to it to make a river of ‘me’. But I don’t know who would want that besides me!
5. For profile, I like your thought on this. I have Facebook, but I’m not crazy about it. I decided to make a free page on googlepages.com as my ‘personal portal page’. It links out to everything I do online. However, I’m not sure people like seeing that domain in there as my first place to go. It’s a branding thing I suppose, but I also thought it is cool because I found a free, easy alternative to make a profile. And it’s so handy to have one page that will link to everything like my resume, facebook, linkedIN, blogs, etc. I’m thinking about making a profile subdomain on my domain instead. Thoughts?
Great list. I use many, if not most, of the above.
Also:
1. Google Notebook for filing away snippets of Web pages under various categories. Probably similar to Fleck.
2. Ning for building a custom social network
3. Vox for what I call structured blogging. Probably similar to Tumblr
4. A cheap hosting account where you can use Fantastico to install your own versions of Wordpress, MediaWiki and PHPBB. I use SiteGround but there are many others (Dreamhost, Joyent, BuyHTTP).
5. Facebook toolbar extension to Firefox is awesome, especially on a larger monitor.
6. Delicious toolbar extension likewise.
Actually there is a whole category of Firefox extensions:
* Facebook
* Delicious
* Google Notebook
* Bloglines
* etc
[…] A Sample Social Media Toolkit : [chrisbrogan.com] The Quick List For the sake of summary, let’s list out what’s in our toolkit, and why, and then we’ll go into detail AFTER that: (tags: Social Media Toolkit) […]
Great stuff. Really appreciated the categorization of tools into listening, blogging, mobile, etc. Never really thought about how categorizing in that fashion may be useful for newbies (and execs) getting started.
Regarding Google Presentations…I’ve found it the best way for me to make “distance presentations” over the phone. It allows me to control the flow…instead of shipping the ppt ahead of time and getting people to go through at your pace (no jumping ahead!). Especially useful for pitches & proposal presentations.
And I’m finding that it’s becoming a useful for general conference calls I’m leading. Helps keep the call on the agenda without straying too far off course.
Finally, would love to see that Five Starter Moves PDF if you would be kind enough to send me a copy.
[…] to speed on the wonders that are available to you online! Going Viral The New Rules of Marketing Sample Social Media Toolkit Web 2.0 vs. 3.0 How to Get Started with […]
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[…] chrisbrogan wrote an interesting post today on A Sample Social Media ToolkitHere’s a quick excerptSocial Conversation - Twitter; Social Profile - Facebook; Business Profile - LinkedIN; Social Bookmarking - Del.icio.us; Collaboration - PBWiki; Shared Documents - Google Docs; Instant Messaging-Web Based - Meebo or Campfire … […]